Is Global Warming a Real Phenomenon or Just Hype?
As scientists log increments in the average temperature of the earth, debate marches on about whether or not this warming is natural or caused by the activities of people. Some people who have studied global issues would say there was no such thing as global warming and it is all a big hoax. But others disagree and believe that we are having a negative environmental impact that has been ongoing since the industrial revolution.
The best place to start is to look at what we have already been led to believe.
The relationship between the earth and the sun is the Greenhouse effect. After the earth is warmed by the sun’s heat and energy, it releases that energy back into space.
The greenhouse effect comes into play as the gases in the earth trap that energy so that it cannot be released back into space therefore, warming the earths environment.
The greenhouse effect is not only natural but also critical to our existence. Without it, the earth would be too cold to sustain life.
Energy from the sun is captured by gases like methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor to enable the warming of the earth.
It is common knowledge that plants provide carbon dioxide (CO2) but most people aren’t aware that they also eliminate carbon dioxide.
This is because, when a plant dies and is buried into the earth, these plants become fossil fuel which is coal and oil.
The carbon dioxide is removed from the air around it when coal and oil is burned.
Global warming wasn’t a problem 200 years ago before cars filled our streets and machinery was invented.
The natural gases which came from the earth would trap energy to warm the earth, however, since the industrial revolution, more gases are being produced, which means more energy is trapped and result is global warming.
There are ongoing debates between activists and scientists on the subject of whether or not humans are the cause of global warming. However, I believe everyone can agree that when something unnatural occurs, it disrupts the natural order of things.
If we are producing more gases than what is known as natural, then you would expect that this would have an affect on our environment, but whether or not this affect is causing global warming, well, we will have to leave that down to the scientists.
There is evidence that in the last one hundred years, the earth has warmed by one percent. Although this may seem like a small amount, it may be unnatural enough to have an effect on the global climate.
The truth of the matter is, the earth works in a certain way that even the best scientists in the world cannot fathom it. We can never assume we know it all just as we cannot 100% rely on what we already believe we know as there could be many unknown factors that have not been taken into account.
It is easy to conclude that humans are having some kind of impact on the environment in comparison to 200 years ago, but is this the cause of global warming? I don’t believe it is possible to say either way. But what we do know is that we need to do what we can to help the environment.
Whatever the real truth is, you can definitely make a difference by turning your home into a green house (pun intended) and build a renewable energy generator. We can help the earth this way, one household at a time.
Ralph Somers
Moderator of Ralph’s Green Energy Guide